U.S. senators officially confirmed one of their colleagues, Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin, to serve as Secretary of Homeland Security Monday.
Of the Senate members, 54 voted in favor of the confirmation, and 45 voted against it. Mullin will officially begin his new role on March 31.
Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, spoke in favor of Mullin’s nomination on Monday.
“Just a few weeks after being elected to the House, when the Oklahoma delegation was touring storm damage, Markwayne cut away from the other Congressmen and climbed through debris to try to shut off water shooting through the wreckage,” Thune said. “See a problem? Take action to solve it. That’s Markwayne.”
The confirmation follows a committee vote and a procedural vote in the upper chamber. At his confirmation hearing on March 18, Mullin faced questions from Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who alleged that Mullin approved of a physical attack Paul faced from his neighbor, in which he was left with six broken ribs.
Several Oklahoma political leaders, however, have spoken highly of Mullin and approve of President Trump’s choice to appoint him to the role. Oklahoma’s other senator, James Lankford, posted to social media earlier this month that he believes Mullin will help reform the Federal Emergency Management Administration, which is on its third administrator since last spring.
During Monday’s hearing, Lankford said the Cherokee Nation, of which Mullin is a citizen, sent a letter of support for Mullin’s nomination.
Despite Paul’s objections, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs voted to advance the nomination 8-7 on Wednesday, clearing the way for a 54-37 procedural vote on Sunday.
Mullin, a Republican from Westville, has sat in the Senate since 2023. Previously, he spent a decade in the U.S. House of Representatives. Before entering federal office, Mullin worked primarily as a business owner, taking over his family’s plumbing company at age 20.
Mullin was nominated for the position after former Secretary Kristi Noem was fired, which followed incidents in which Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed multiple civilian protestors and her agency spent $220 million on an ad campaign featuring Noem.
Stitt expected to pick energy executive Alan Armstrong for Senate
Mullin’s confirmation to the President’s Cabinet leaves an open seat in the Senate. Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt is expected to pick Tulsa oil and gas executive Alan Armstrong to fill the role.
Armstrong currently serves on the board of Williams Companies, where he was CEO until last year. The company has 5,000 employees and its pipelines and other infrastructure handle nearly a third of the natural gas used in the United States every day.
Armstrong will serve in the Senate until January, when the winner of November’s general election will take office. Oklahoma law bars him from running for the seat he was appointed to.
The apparent selection of Armstrong spurred some controversy among conservatives due to a donation he made to former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R- Illinois, in March 2021. Kinzinger has been highly critical of Trump for pushing the idea that he is the rightful winner of the 2020 election, and voted to impeach him. Thousands of Americans stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021 because of their belief that the election was “stolen” from Trump. There is no evidence to support that claim.
Armstrong, Stitt and Trump reportedly met at Mar-a-Lago over the weekend to iron out their differences. Stitt has a press conference to introduce his selection on Tuesday morning.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
